Posts Tagged ‘KL’

This is the SECOND time this school’s misery is published in newspaper. Already once in January, and before that in 2011. So that’s 2.5 years. Already. Nothing to be surprised as the school remains the same as in 1970s, and standing on the same stilts built in 1924. Another 11 years it will centenary celebration for the stilts.

Before GE13, MIC’s Dato Saravanan visited and mentioned about relocation. 6 months down the lane, still waiting for decision. Will forward this to newly minted Deputy Minister of Education P Kamalanathan to see how things are progressing.

No canteen, no field, no computer lab, no science lab. AND still does well in UPSR.

Do you believe these parents will vote for you?

89 years old: St Joseph was built in 1924 on wooden stilts. Today, it still stands on the same wooden stilts. The school does not have a canteen, field, library, science lab or computer room.

PARENTS of children attending an 89-year-old Tamil primary girls’ school in Sentul, Kuala Lumpur are calling on the Government to make good its promise to build a new school for them.

SJK (T) St Joseph’s board of governors want to know what progress has been made on a pledge that they be relocated.

In January during the distribution of RM100 school assistance by then Deputy Federal Territories Minister Datuk M. Saravanan, parents had requested for a new building with proper facilities.

Following this, Saravanan announced the Government had allocated three acres of land in the Batu Muda people’s housing project (PPR) where the school would be relocated to.

He said the land belonged to the Education Ministry, and that it was ideal because it could accommodate a football field too.

“Saravanan told us an announcement would be made before the general election,’’ school board chairman Alice Fatimah said. However, they have not heard anything since.

“Every day they (parents) ask me to update them on when we are getting the land. Their children’s future is at stake,’’ she said.

“We want the authorities to come clean about their plans for our school, especially when there are rumours that something else is being planned for the land.

“We will go to Putrajaya to see the Prime Minister if we have to.”

She reiterated that they were only asking for what had been promised.

Alice said St Joseph would be holding its annual Sports Day on June 15, and the school authorities needed to look for sponsors to bring pupils to the venue.

“We face this problem every year. Since we have no school field or proper facilities, we have to beg for sponsors to provide us with a venue to carry out activities such as Sports Day.

“This time, we are holding the event at La Salle Sentul, but we still need funds to transport the children there.

“In April, we organised a Science Day for the children but we could not afford to hold it at a different venue. We had no choice but to cram over 100 pupils into the assembly area.

“This is not the way to educate children, we clearly need a more conducive environment for them,’’ she lamented.

All this can be settled once and for all if the Government builds the school,’’ said Alice, who was formerly the St Joseph’s parent-teacher association (PTA) chairman.

Former PTA deputy chairman Kobi Subramaniam said there were rumours the land had been allocated for another project.

A parent who only wished to be identified as K. Menaka said she studied at St Joseph in the 1970s.

“It was tough back then, with no facilities, but nothing has changed for my 10-year-old daughter who is studying here now,’’ she said.

Parent M. Shankar said with so many Indian representatives in the government, someone should take the responsibility to solve the problem.

“Enough is enough, it is time for action and we want this matter resolved once and for all,’’ Shankar said.

St Joseph was built in 1924 on wooden stilts. Today, it still stands on the same wooden stilts. The school does not have a canteen, field, library, science lab or computer room.

Its pupils sit under trees during recess and have been doing their sports activities by the roadside.

According to Alice, the school receives some funds from the Education Ministry from time to time to repair the leaking roof and termite-infested building.

“Clearly, long-term solutions are needed for the well-being of these children,’’ she said.

In January, StarMetro reported that the owner of the land had asked the school to relocate.

Due to uncertainty over its future, the school authorities were not able to proceed with renovation plans on the ageing structure.

“It would be pointless to keep renovating when in the end, we do not know what the future holds,’’ Alice pointed out.

The partially-aided school has five classrooms, 135 pupils and 15 teachers.

Those interested in helping the school can call Alice at 012-305 9615.

I searched my own blog and found that SJKT St Joseph was in the limelight way back in January 2011. Its been 2 years since then, and we just at the stage of “identified land for relocation” and “waiting for decision”. Aren’t we ashamed to say such things? By now the new building should be under construction lah!

The school boasts of high achievers who had gone on to be politicians, newscasters, businesswomen etc, but their alma mater is still like this.

This school is took the best SJKT award for best UPSR results and percentage of “cemerlang A” for 2012 (refer here). In my books this is a high performing school. Nothing much given, yet able to get some good results.

I hope we don’t read about the same problem in another 2 years time!

Stuffy: The store room doubles as a library but because of the lack of space, the pupils have to take their books outside to read them.

THE Tamil primary girls school in Sentul, Kuala Lumpur may be sitting on prime land in the bustling new township with modern facilities, but there is nothing modern or new about the school which still stands on wooden stilts.

Old, rickety and leaking, the 89-year-old SJK(T) St Joseph, like the proverbial grandfather’s clock, is still ticking, but barely. And parents are pleading for a new building with proper facilities for their children.

Built in 1924, the school does not have a canteen, field, library, science lab or computer room.

Termite-infested: The original facade of the 89-year-old school sits on stilts until today.

Its pupils sit under trees to eat their lunch and have been using the roadside for sports activities for the past nine decades.

What’s worse, matters have come to a head now because the owner of the land has told the school authorities to relocate.

“We are in limbo,” said the school’s parent-teacher association (PTA) chairman Alice Fatimah.

“The land belongs to the St Joseph’s church and they had allowed us to stay here all this time.

“Now, we have been told to move. We have been asking the government for a new site but nothing has happened,’’ said the 42-year-old.

The situation has made the school’s predicament worse as it is unable to even upgrade its faciltiesnow.

“We received some funds from the Education Ministry last year to repair the leaking roof and termite-infested building, but we do not know what to do now,” she said.

PTA deputy chairman Kobi Subramaniam said there was also talk that the school may be shut down for safety reasons.

“This has led to a drop in enrolment. We used to get 190 pupils per new intake but now, the number has dropped to 135,”’ he said.

Former student Parameswary Thanapal, 48, said she was disappointed that her daughter, Sanjena Kumari, nine, was suffering the same fate she did almost 40 years ago.

“There were no basic facilities then, no canteen, library or a proper toilet during the 1970s when I was schooling here. To see my daughter having to go through the same situation is just not right.’’

Sharing Parameswary’s sentiments is Vijaya Letchumi, 53, whose daughter had studied at SJK(T) St Joseph and now, her granddaughter is a pupil at the school.

“It breaks my heart that my daughter had to suffer such discomfort just to get an education and now, it’s my granddaughter. Things must change,’’ she said.

A check by StarMetro showed that the school is in a dilapidated state, with leaking roof and toilets.

The stilts that hold up the structure are termite-infested.

An old steel cabinet is the “Kedai Buku’’, while a storeroom has been turned into a mini library.

“As you can see, there is hardly space for the pupils to read here. They have to take the books outside and find a place to read them,’’ said Alice, adding that as there was no science lab, experiments were conducted in a classroom, posing danger to the children.

The school also does not have a computer room and the teachers staff room is cramped.

Despite these problems, school headmistress B. Valarmathi said the pupils were doing well in their examinations.

“We have produced high-achievers,” she said proudly, adding that some had even become politicians, newscasters and businesswomen.

“We have been judged as the best Tamil school in terms of academic results for several years in a row now,’’ she said.

“Imagine what these girls can achieve with better facilities.’’

The partially-aided school has five classrooms, 135 pupils and 15 teachers.

Meanwhile, Deputy Federal Terri-tories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk M. Saravanan said the government had identified a three-acre land near the Batu People’s Housing Scheme (PPR) in Kuala Lumpur to relocate the school.

He said the land belonging to the Education Ministry would be ideal for the school and could also accommodate a football field..

“We are waiting for a decision and hopefully, it will be positive,” he said.

This is quite surprising. I remember reading interview with new mayor where he talked about karma and all (sounded like a well-read and understanding guy), and then this news appears on FMT. Decoration like kolam is quite common even in shopping centers! Banana trees are usually put at the entrance – can see it at Hindu weddings especially at temples. Wonder what’s the reason for DBKL’s actions. Is it because of cleanliness factors or there are considered religious symbols? Or perhaps MHS wasn’t aware of such rules?

Senator S Ramakrishnan of the DAP today demanded an explanation from Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak over Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s (DBKL) decision to disallow cultural decorations to be put up in their hall for an event by Malaysia Hindu Sangam.

“Najib must investigate why an event officiated by his representative was marred by DBKL’s stupid act which hurts the feeling of delegates,” said Ramakrishnan in a press statement today.

“It is totally unbecoming of DBKL since they are under the Federal Territories and Urban Well Being Ministry that has a Hindu deputy minister,” said Ramakrishnan.

He was commenting on DBKL’s decision to disallow MHS from decorating the venue – a DBKL hall – with kolam, a colourful rice based decoration, and banana trees in conjunction with a conference which was held yesterday.

MHS had organised a conference to launch temple worship guidelines yesterday at the DBKL training institute hall in Cheras.

The conference was attended by about 800 delegates from all over the country with PM’s representative honouring the event.

The hall was rented for RM4,600 and an additional RM300 paid for DBKL staff manning the hall for the event.

The conference was supposed to be officiated by Najib but was subsequently delegated to Human Resources Minister Dr S Subramaniam.

Ramakrishnan also lashed out at DBKL for their lack of sensitivity.

“Why is DBKL afraid to allow such simple cultural decorations?

“DBKL is a public body that serves all Malaysians, so why did it abstain MHS from putting up biodegradable and easily disposal cultural decorations?

“If it is a rule not to allow any decorations by any user of the hall then that should have been made known at the time of hall booking and not one day before the event?

“This act of DBKL shows how they look down on cultural practices of Indian Malaysians,” said Ramakrishnan.

Yup, in KL which under federal government. And this pisses off Deputy FT Minister Dato Saravanan. Because now they (MIC) can’t say no temple demolished under BN since PM Najib took over. Yup, its that serious.

Yup. (Just wanted to make it three “yup”s).

Interestingly, a directive was issued saying temple issues in FT was to be referred to Deputy Minister, but wonder why it was not adhered to this time. Looks like not only in PR-managed states have this problem.

And according to article below, the land has been gazetted to be used for non-Muslim religious purpose. So, what gives?

DEPUTY Federal Territories Ministry Datuk M. Saravanan was incensed by the demolition of the Maha Veppan Kaliamman temple in Kepong early yesterday morning.

Saravanan said he was made to “feel like a fool” negotiating with the group of government officers despite being in charge of non-Islamic religious land issues in the Federal Territory after a directive was sent out two years ago.

“The FT Land and Minerals Department went on with the demolition despite the directive that no temples should be demolished without prior discussion with me, Federal Territories Minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin and FT Secretary-General Datuk Ahmad Phesal Talib,” he said.

Taking control: Saravanan discussing the temple demolition issue with some of the devotees.

When he was informed about the demolition process that morning, he contacted the FT Land deparment director Hashim Ismail.

Saravanan said he had asked for the demolition process to be postponed until he could discuss the issue with Nong Chik but Hashim said he could not do anything.

Temple priest Periasamy Batumalai said 40 devotees tried to stop some 50 officers from DBKL and the police force from demolishing the temple.

Roads leading to the temple wereclosed off and devotees were barred from entering despite pleading with the officers.

According to the temple’s laywer Datin Anit Kaur Randhawa, the temple was not issued any order to vacate.

The officials used the notice from the Land and Minerals Department dated June 19, 2012 and the bulldozers moved in the very next day at 9am, barely 20 minutes after pasting the unsigned notice on the two gates of the temple.

“The DBKL officers and the police came at 8.30am and pasted the notice on the temple before proceeding to demolish it within 20 minutes. They only managed to tear down the fence surrounding the temple as the devotees formed a human barricade to halt the proceedings,” she said.

The demolition was later stopped by Saravanan who arrived at 10am.

The temple was initially located at the Jalan Kuching roundabout before moving to its current site in 2011.

The land in Kepong had been gazetted as religious land and set aside for non-Muslims.

“When I called Nong Chik, he said he was unaware of the demolition. I am surprised at the arrogance of the officers. They seemed to be in a rush to demolish the temple,” he said.

He added that the small plot of land was useful for the temple.

Anit Kaur said letters of support were sent to the Prime Minister’s Department on May 31 last year to apply for the land.

Good news for the temple. Through their perseverance, they managed to get their land approved, even though it took 30 years.

AFTER 30 years of waiting, the Arulmigu Sri Ramalingeswarar temple in Jalan Maarof, Bangsar finally got their approval letter last Sunday.

The 100-year-old temple, which has been operating without proper documentation, had approached Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin to solve the issue.

It took two years for the process to be completed since the temple was situated on private land.

“We had to contact the landowner and negotiate with them and the process is also a long one,” added Nong Chik.

He said it could not have been done without the assistance of the various parties including the Land Office which was sensitive about religious sites as well.

Nong Chik handed the gazette approval letter for part of Lot 61 Section 916A Kuala Lumpur under Section 62 of the National Land Act during a special consecretion ceremony (kumbhabhishegam) at the temple.

The land has been gazetted for temple use and will be run by the temple committee members.

Temple president A. Velayutham said they were grateful for the assistance provided by Nong Chik and that now they would only have to solve their parking woes.

“Previously our devotees used to park by the road until City Hall built pavements as part of the beautification process. Since there are now three-and-a-half lanes we will write to DBKL to ask permission to use the last lane for parking,” he added.

During the event, Nong Chik also presented a RM100,000 grant from the Federal Territories Ministry to the temple.

Velayutham said the money would be used for their renovation work which was nearing completion.

“Every 12 years the temple will be renovated and we estimate this year’s work to cost about RM1.5mil.

“We managed to collect RM800,000 from the public,” he added.

Apart from the grant by Nong Chik, Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr Subramaniam also presented RM100,000 on behalf of the Government.